The Idea

This all starts with a brainstorm.

It seemed to me that Ben McAdams' campaign for mayor of Salt Lake County needed a "Homer" to tell the story. Here we have an oddly popular progressive candidate in, arguably, the most conservative state in the union. He's young, bright, articulate, devoutly Mormon and a convicted Democrat. If you're not from Utah you can't fully appreciate how anomolous that combination of adjectives is. There is no one... I mean no one... with a similar profile who sustains such political success in this glorious state.

On the one hand, he's every Mormon mother's dream of the perfect missionary returned home to extraordinary success. He has a law degree from Columbia, and a wholesome appearance at home in Ensign magazine. On the other hand, his fidelity to progressive values is maintained with marvelous consistency and awesome integrity.

Look at length with a microscope for the slightest hint of daylight between those two facts and you invite frustration.

Around this unlikely candidate, and at the core of his campaign, is a collection of supporters as various as a can of mixed nuts. Many are young, some are old. Some are Mormons, most are non. They are gay and straight, hispanic and white, Republican and Democrat. Put them in a crowd and they'd have little in common; put them around Ben McAdams and they are a community... a family even.

Only a fool would say there's not a story here.

And so I approached Joel Freston, the campaigns field director, and Ashley Sumner, the publicity director, and suggested "the campaign as narrative." I asked that this story be told as it unfolded from the perspective of someone in the campaign, but not of it. Someone sympathetic to the cause, but not on the payroll. Someone who wants to share a story without needing to sell anything to anyone.

In short, I suggested me.

And so what follows in this blog is that narrative. There will be vignettes, photos, policy arguments and a discussion of why Ben wears brown shoes with blue suits. It will be as much about the solar system around Ben, as it is about Ben himself. There will be attempts at humor and descriptions of the inconsequential, but it will all be interspersed with things more serious and challenging.

Whatever's said, whether brief or extended, asks for your comment. The box at the bottom is your door into this conversation... your opportunity to share in something that promises to be special.